


Subject Matters

by ChibiTabatha



Series: Chibi's 2019 Fictober [22]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Fictober 2019, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Photographer!Rhett, Photographs, Photography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 05:13:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21131219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiTabatha/pseuds/ChibiTabatha
Summary: Rhett picks up hobbies and puts them down faster than most, but this one sticks around. And when Link finds himself on the other side of the lens, will he see what Rhett sees?





	Subject Matters

**Author's Note:**

> Fictober day 22 prompt: “We could have a chance.”

When Rhett first picked up a camera, Link didn't think much of it. The older boy was always interested in new things. This would be something that eventually faded into the background.  
  
It never did.  
  
Rhett obsessed over taking pictures of things Link thought were a little  _ too _ artistic for his tastes. A shoe on top of a rock. An abandoned plush on the side of the road. The roof of a farmhouse over the tops of a swath of golden wheat. Was the focus the wheat, or the house? Link was still a little stumped on that.  
  
Even still, Link supported his friend's love of photography. Pointing out weird things he might like, or even suggesting events they could go to where he could take pictures of more than just still life.  
  
The lens focused on him soon after that.  
  
The first time he heard the shutter, he was sprawled out on the floor flipping through a comic book. Link startled and looked up at his friend, "What the?"  
  
"Dunno, just thought it looked right. So I took the shot. Sorry bo, shoulda warned ya," there was a small smile on Rhett's lips and a half shrug.  
  
Link was never warned.  
  
Sometimes he'd just be basking in the midday sun, or shimmying out of his shirt to get into the river, or just being himself. He would hear the shutter click, the soft whir of the film roll and he would only pause for a brief moment of time.  
  
It made him hot all over knowing that Rhett was looking at him artistically. That he was good enough to take pictures of. He wouldn't call himself a model, he was just a scrawny teen with a klutzy streak after all.  
  
Then they caught wind of a competition.  
  
"You should apply Rhett!" Link shook his friend's shoulders.  
  
Rhett huffed, "No way, I'm not that good."  
  
Blue eyes rolled so hard he swore he saw the wrinkles in his brain, "Then why have people been asking you to take pictures of their events Rhett? I know you used the money from those jobs to get yourself a better camera. I'll drive you anywhere! I'll help you in anyway that I can. We gotta at least try bo."  
  
Rhett asked for a couple of days to think on it. Then a couple more to think about where he wanted to take the pictures.  
  
Link paced the driveway while Rhett put several cardboard boxes of things in the back of his friend's truck. Some looked like clothes, others looked like props. Rhett's guitar case was nestled in among all the things.  
  
"Are you packing for the apocalypse?" Link looked into the bed of his truck at all the stuff.  
  
"Hey, you never know what qualifies as art. Plus we have a week to get this done. So I want to spend as little time going back and forth as possible." The blond huffed as he tucked his camera bag into the front passenger seat. "Ready?"  
  
"I hope so," he laughed.  
  
He was not ready.  
  
They started at the Cape Fear River, a place where a few candid shots of a scrawny teen stripping had been taken here multiple times. But now it was purposeful.  
  
He had Link take off his shoes placing them with the toes facing away from the river, then asked Link to stand just on the edge of the embankment. A few clicks and then he was asked to sit comfortably. He sat with one knee bent and the other foot hanging into the water, leaning back on his palms to look at the sky.  
  
The shutter clicks were furious. Then he was asked to strip. Link flushed, taking off his shirt and dropping it next to his shoes. When his pants joined the haphazard pile, he was asked to lay next to it, to be comfortable.  
  
The brunet shrugged and laced his hands behind his head as he let the dappled sun warm his skin. The shutter clicked several more times.  
  
The week went by like that. Link being asked to strip, being asked to hold whichever mystery item was pulled from the truck, asked to just be himself in the moment.  
  
Link looked at the developed photos that Rhett had selected. Link was stunned at how good he looked under Rhett's artistic eye. His two favorites he wanted to insist he get copies of. Bright blue eyes and sun dappled skin, a soft smile full of gentle love, a haphazard pile of clothes screaming of youth being lived to its fullest. The other was softer, pink-orange sun setting over green and golden fields, a lone teen sitting on a wooden fence facing towards the burning sky; A guitar sitting in his lap, the setting sun highlighting the warm wood tones visible.  
  
Link swallowed, “We could have a chance.”  
  
"They're not that good," the blond shrugged.  
  
"No Rhett, I think we have an honest to goodness chance at winning this thing," Link's finger swept over the images again. "Like if I didn't know any better, I would say you were photographing something you really love. Not just your best friend in different states of undress."  
  
"Because I was," Rhett plucked the images out of Link's hands.  
  
"You what?"  
  
"I was capturing something that I love. Something I desire. Something only I could see. So yes. I was photographing someone I really love," the blond tucked the images into an envelope.  
  
Link felt like his face was on fire. He didn't miss the way Rhett has said someone instead of something. "You don't have to say anything about it bo. I'm not trying to put you on the spot."  
  
"Can I kiss you?"  
  
This time Rhett was the one who burned bright red, "Wha?"  
  
"I want to try."  
  
Rhett frowned slightly before nodding. Link closed the space between them, bringing a hand up to pull the tall blond down towards him. Brushing his lips against Rhett's made fireworks go off in his heart, the gentle contact making the organ burst at the seams. "I think we have a chance at more than the contest bo."

**Author's Note:**

> Look. I know what you're saying/thinking. Another au? The answer is maybe. I don't know yet.
> 
> Come yell encouragement at me on [tumblr](https://chibitabathasloves.tumblr.com/).


End file.
